How do cancer cells behave differently from healthy ones? - George Zaidan

Translator: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

Translator: Giovanni Jean Pierre Laguerre Reviewer: Sam-Haendell W. THOSIAC

Nou tout antre nan lavi sou fòm yon sèl selil.

We all start life as one single cell.

Selil sa a divize pou l bay de lòt,

Then that cell divides and we are two cells,

then four,

epi kat,

then eight.

epi uit.

Cells form tissues,

Selil yo fòme tisi

tissues form organs,

tisi yo fòme ògàn

organs form us.

ògàn yo fòme nou menm.

These cell divisions, by which we go from a single cell

Divizyon selil sa yo, Kote nou soti nan yon grenn selil

Pou rive 100 mil milya selil,

to 100 trillion cells,

are called growth.

rele kwasans.

And growth seems like a simple thing

Epi kwasans sanble yon senp bagay

because when we think of it,

paske lè n ap byen gade,

we typically think of someone getting taller

nou souvan imajine yon moun ki vin pi wo

or, later in life, wider,

oswa, pita nan lavi, pi laj,

but to cells, growth isn't simple.

men pou selil yo, kwasans pa yon senp bagay

Cell division is an intricate chemical dance

Divizyon selil se yon dans chimik ki konplèks anpil

that's part individual, part community-driven.

ki baze anpati sou endividi yo, anpati sou kominote a

And in a neighborhood of 100 trillion cells,

Nan yon vwazinaj 100 mil milya selil

some times things go wrong.

Kèkfwa bagay yo konn pase mal

Sa ka rive nan “sèvo” selil yon endividi, Sa yo rele ADN lan,

Maybe an individual cell's set of instructions, or DNA,

gets a typo,

gen yon erè ki glise,

what we call a mutation.

sa nou rele mitasyon.

Most of the time, the cell senses mistakes

Anpil fwa, selil la konn santi Gen bagay ki pa nòmal

and shuts itself down,

Epi l sispann travay,

or the system detects a troublemaker

Oswa sistèm lan detekte pwoblèm lan

and eliminates it.

Epi l elimine l.

But, enough mutations can bypass the fail-safes,

Men ase mitasyon kapab kontoune pwoteksyon yo

driving the cell to divide recklessly.

Ki konn lakòz selil la divize san prekosyon

That one rogue cell becomes two,

Selil sa ki pèdi kontwòl la vin tounen de

then four,

Epi kat,

then eight.

Epi uit.

At every stage, the incorrect instructions

A chak etap, move konsiy yo

are passed along to the cells' offspring.

Pral transmèt bay desandans selil sila a

Weeks, months, or years

Semèn, mwa, menm lane

after that one rogue cell transformed,

Apre transfòmasyon selil sa a ki pèdi kontwòl li a

ou kapab al kay doktè pou yon mas nan tete w

you might see your doctor about a lump in your breast.

Difikilte pou w ale nan twalèt kapab revele

Difficulty going to the bathroom could reveal

a problem in your intestine,

Yon pwoblèm nan entesten w

Pwostat ou, Oswa vesi w.

prostate,

or bladder.

Or, a routine blood test might count too many white cells

Oubyen, yon tès sangen woutin ka rive konte twòp globil blan

or elevated liver enzymes.

Oswa yon to elve anzim epatik

Doktè a ba w move nouvèl la:

Your doctor delivers the bad news:

se yon kansè.

it's cancer.

Apati de la, strateji w la pral depann

From here your strategy will depend

on where the cancer is and

Kote kansè a ye epi

how far it's progressed.

A ki stad li rive.

If the tumor is slow-growing and in one place,

Si timè a gen yon kwasans lan epi li rete yon sèl kote

surgery might be all you need, if anything.

Chiriji sèlman sifi.

Si timè a pa janm sispann grandi Oswa si l ap anvayi tisi vwazen yo,

If the tumor is fast-growing or invading nearby tissue,

your doctor might recommend radiation

Doktè a kapab rekòmande radyoterapi

or surgery followed by radiation.

Oswa yon chiriji ak radyoterapi

If the cancer has spread,

Si kansè a gentan pwopaje,

or if it's inherently everywhere like a leukemia,

Oswa si li natirèlman gentan toupatou Menm jan ak yon lesemi,

your doctor will most likely recommend chemotherapy

Asireman doktè a pral rekòmande chimyoterapi

or a combination of radiation and chemo.

Oswa yon konbinezon radyoterapi ak chimyoterapi

Radiation and most forms of chemo work

Radyoterapi ak pifò fòm chimyoterapi yo fèt

by physically shredding the cells' DNA

Nan yon fason pou detwi ADN selil yo

or disrupting the copying machinery.

Oswa deranje mekanis kopi an

But neither radiation nor chemotherapeutic drugs target only cancer cells.

Men radyoterapi ak chimyoterapi a Pa sèlman sible selil kansè yo.

Radiation hits whatever you point it at,

Reyon yo frape tout sa ou vize,

and your blood stream carries chemo-therapeutics

E san w transpòte pwodui chimyoterapetik

all over your body.

Nan tout kò w.

So, what happens when different cells get hit?

Kidonk, kisa k pase lè reyon yo frape diferan tip selil?

Annou egzamine yon selil fwa ki an sante

Let's look at a healthy liver cell,

a healthy hair cell,

Yon selil cheve ki an sante,

and a cancerous cell.

Ak yon selil kansè.

Selil fwa ki an sante a divize sèlman lè li strese;

The healthy liver cell divides only when it is stressed;

the healthy hair cell divides frequently;

Selil cheve ki an sante a pa janm p ap divize;

and the cancer cell divides even more frequently and recklessly.

Epi selil kansè a divize pi souvan epi san prekosyon.

When you take a chemotherapeutic drug,

Lè w ap pran yon medikaman chimyoterapetik,

it will hit all of these cells.

Li pral frape tout selil sa yo.

Pa bliye medikaman sa yo an jeneral la pou yo deranje divizyon selil yo.

And remember that the drugs work typically by disrupting cell division.

So, every time a cell divides,

Konsa, chak fwa yon selil divize,

Li pare pou l atake,

it opens itself up to attack,

and that means the more frequently a cell divides,

Epi sa vle di pi souvan yon selil ap divize,

the more likely the drug is to kill it.

Plis medikaman siseptib touye li.

Ou sonje selil cheve n t ap pale a?

So, remember that hair cell?

It divides frequently and isn't a threat.

Li divize pi souvan men l pa yon menas.

And, there are other frequently dividing cells in your body

Gen lòt selil ki divize souvan nan kò w

like skin cells, gut cells, and blood cells.

Tankou selil po, entesten ak selil ki nan san an.

Lis efè segondè dezagreyab trètman kansè a

So the list of unpleasant side effects of cancer treatment

Konsène tip tisi sa yo :

parallels these tissue types:

Pèdi cheve,

hair loss,

skin rashes,

Bouton,

nausea,

Anvi vomi,

vomiting,

fatigue,

Vomisman, Fatig,

weight loss,

Pèdi pwa, Ak doulè.

and pain.

That makes sense because these are the cells that get hit the hardest.

Li fè sans paske se selil sa yo ki frape pi fò

Kidonk, tout bagay sa yo se yon pawòl kwasans.

So, in the end, it is all about growth.

Cancer hijacks cells' natural division machinery

Kansè a deranje mekanis natirèl divizyon selil yo

Epi li fòse selil yo akselere,

and forces them to put the pedal to the metal,

growing rapidly and recklessly.

Grandi chak fwa pi rapid epi san prekosyon.

But, using chemotherapeutic drugs,

Men, gras ak medikaman chimyoterapetik yo

we take advantage of that aggressiveness,

N ap pwofite de agresivite sa a,

and we turn cancer's main strength

Epi n ap transfòme fòs kansè

into a weakness.

An feblès.